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Comment by timthorn | Hacker News Reader

You perhaps missed the key point - this was Simon Peyton Jones speaking.

I was fortunate enough to be in the audience; while the talk was pitched at a lay audience, Simon is the type of speaker who can make anything engaging and enjoyable to listen to regardless of whether you know the material he's presenting or have not the first idea.

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I've watched it now, and while I've no doubt he's a good science communicator, and the topic and examples are solid, I think he falls between two stools here. I think he goes too fast for a neophyte, and the topic is too basic for someone with experience.

If you watch the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (which I think are pitched at the same level) you'll see they generally slow things down a bit.

Would have benefitted from fewer examples, with more time spent on each.

I attend the Christmas Lectures too - I'm literally on my way home from the RI as I type :) They used to go a lot deeper and narrower, exploring a topic (eg the Standard Model or chirality) over a set of 5 hour long lectures. The target audience was scientifically aware teenage children, but they're now about engaging children for whom science might not have otherwise been an interesting topic.

My point about Simon was that he is engaging - I tried to allude to the fact that an expert wouldn't learn anything. I don't know how it comes across as a video but as a live performer he draws you in.

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